Process of decomposing fats.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVE DANGOISE, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE GEN- ERALEBELGE DE DEGLYOERINATION, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, A COR- PORATION OFBELGIUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 688,069, dated December3, 1901. Application filed June 4, 1901. Serial No, 63,092. (Nospecimens.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, GUSTAVE DANGOISE, engineer, residing at Brussels, inthe Kingdom of Belgium, have invented a certain new and useful processof separating glycerin from oils and fatty matters under pressure, so asto obtain glycerin in a very pure condition and fatty acids unaltered,of which the following is a specification.

1o Numerous processes for separating glycerin from fatty matters underpressure by means of apparatus termed autoclaves have been long in use,especially in the stearin manufacture, and they are all based upon theprin- I5 ciple of separating fatty matters into fatty acids and glycerinby means of water alone or with addition of alkaline bases, metallicoxids, or metals (lime, magnesia, zinc, due.) under the action of highpressures, and therefore of high temperatures. As the proportion of thebase increases the pressure may diminish in obtaining a given amount ofglycerin; butif, on the one hand, high pressures and temperaturesgreatly alter fatty matters the addition of large proportions of lime,magnesia, zinc, &c., causes difficulties quite as great in thesucceeding operations, especially by rendering necessary the use of muchacid in order to obtain the fatty acids in the 0 state in which theyought to be employed. The problem to be solved, therefore, was to obtainalmost all the glycerin contained in the fatty matter without havingrecourse to high pressures or to large proportions of the bases, whichcause the difficulties above referred to. It is this problem that is,according to this invention, solvedin the following manner: As in manychemical reactions it is the beginning of the combination that is ef- 4ofected with difficulty and as once begun it goes on easily, according tothis invention means are devised for rendering the operation ofseparating glycerin,as it were,continu ous by causing each new operationto begin 5 in presence of a portion of the complex bodies, which resultfrom a complete operation which has effected separation of glycerin,(about five per cent.)

For the separation of glycerin in an autoclave or closed vessel highheat and high pressure are necessary to produce the first combination ofthe neutral oil with the small quantity of metallic oxid added, andthis-first combination having been effected there is formed under lesspressure and heat acid and basic metallic soaps, which act gradually andfrom one molecule to another, continuing the reaction and ending byfreeing all the glycerin. Therefore by adding at the commence ment of anoperation to the neutral oil to be treated these acid and basic soapsmixed with fatty acids, which are the result of a preceding reaction, Iam enabled to decrease the high pressure and to work at an averagepressure of five atmospheres (which corresponds to a temperature ofabout 150 centigrade) with an addition of one per cent. of oxid of zinc,the complete operation lasting six hours.

In practice at the commencement of each operation I first introduce intothe autoclave .the fatty material to be treated, mixed with about tenper cent. of water. Then I introduce about five per cent.of themixtureof fatty matters which have been drawn from the autoclave at thepreceding operation and which consist of acid soaps, basic soaps, andfatty acids intimately mixed together and which do not separate byprecipitation. After this fiveper-cent.addition I add in the autoclaveabout one percent. of a base, (as, for example, oxid of zinc or metalliczinc or oxid of magnesia or lime or any other suitable base.) Then theautoclave is closed and the contents subjected to a steam-pressure of,say, five to six atmospheres for about six hours, for example. Theautoclave is then emptied into a reservoir, where the .glycerin isseparated. The supernatant part is washed 'with an acid to transform allthe metallic soaps into fatty o acids. Previously a part of thesesupernatant fatty bodies hasbeen drawn off, as already explained, foruse in com menciug a new operation.

Having thus described the nature of this invention and the best means Iknow of carrying the same into practical effect, I claim- The process ofseparating glycerin from fatty matter, which process consists in leavingin the autoclave, or in introducing into it before each new operation oftheusual kind, a portion of the fatty matters combined with 5 the base(alkali or metallic oxid) resulting from a preceding operation.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUSTAVE DANGOISE.

Witnesses:

'GUSTAVE PIERRY, EMILE NUYTs.

